Now don't get me wrong, everything that glitters isn't gold, and it had its down sides. It was a 3BR, 2.5BA, so I shared the space with 2 roommates. But one's a nurse that works night shifts, my mornings were her evenings, and the other roomie was a PhD student that lived in the lab. So we rarely saw each other. There were other issues like the fact that one side of the house faced Baltimore Avenue, so every, idk 12-15 minutes between the hours of 6am and 12am the trolley would trot up the street and shake our house a little bit. It didn't bother me as much as it did some people, but hey you can't have it all right.
But this year, I got a new gig in the heart of Center City, and decided it was officially time to leave campus, once and for all. After looking for studios & 1BR apartments in Center City three summers in a row, I might call myself a rather advanced apartment searcher, and knew that if I waited until after April, all of the affordable/decent apartments would have already been rented by Wharton students (Note to renters: Admit Weekend occurs around the 2nd week of April and it's when all the accepted students come to visit Philly, and most of them sign their leases for 2 years...) So I actually started looking in March, around April found a building with brand new apartments in the most convenient of locations ever. Like almost too convenient. To date I've never had to walk more than 10 minutes to work, and this might be the most obnoxiously close location.
Nonetheless, of all things to be excited about, I was most elated that I would be the first person to take a bath in this brand spanking new tub (after spending 2 years with a stall shower, a tub is kind of a big deal...). And I figured since it was just me, I could totally handle living in a studio...
Let's just say, that you never ever know quite how much crap you've accumulated until it's time to move. And I realize that I'm one lucky gal to have a mommy to force me to purge and organize the family movers (my cousins) to come move all the must-keep/heavy stuff for me, and my beau who took countless trips with me in the PhillyCarShare cargo van and lugged my random boxes and bags of stuff into my apartment, and a dad who drove two hours just to pick up a few items that I couldn't fit but wasn't yet ready to part with back to the family casa.
So now I'm in this teeny little apartment with great amenities (h/w floors, granite counter tops, fitness room, AWESOME location) and trying to make it work. And I wish I had found this awesome tool before attempting to design my studio layout on various pieces of computer paper and putting my childhood art/design lessons to the test - Interactive Room Planner by Raymour & Flannigan. So right now, it kind of looks like such:
I think I've maximized the space to the best of my ability, and I now realize how ridiculous my clothing and shoe collection is. And despite 3 purging attempts, only now do I truly feel ready to reaaalllyyy let go of anything that isn't fabulous. In terms of decor, I'm thinking "Spa Serenity Chic", so layers of whites and cremes with gold, silver and mirrored accents. Below is my first stab at a vision board, mostly pulled from pins on my "For the home" board on Pinterest:
What do you think of the layout? Is there a better way to maximize the space? I'll be sure to share updates on the progress and any "Spa Serenity Chic" finds I come across!
xox
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